


The Price of Perfection

by DarlingRed



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bonding, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Man Out of Time, Steve Rogers hurt/comfort, Steve/Nat bromance, Super Soldier Metabolism isn’t all fun and games, Super Soldier Serum, Team as Family, friendship fic, gives me all the feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 15:14:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12937971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarlingRed/pseuds/DarlingRed
Summary: Set a few months after the Avengers, as the team is still acclimating to each other, Steve’s hard headness reveals some truth about their Captain America and ultimately Steve Rogers self sacrificing nature is revealed.The serum isn’t always what its cracked up to be.The budding bromance of Steve and Natasha, because it just makes me happyDoses of medical inaccuracies, a dash of h/c and team feels.





	The Price of Perfection

**Author's Note:**

> Ok. Here is one of my newest stand-alones! I love the fics that deal with Steve’s super serum and the effects that could have in other aspects of his life. Deals a lot with trust, Steve sacrificing everything for the people he cares about and Natasha being an observant bad ass that she is. Enjoy! Please tell me what you think, it gives me power.

                       “Alright team, we go in low and we go in hot,” Steve Rogers gestured to the display behind him, lit up with a dozen or so red dots. “They have a warning system so as soon as we drop they’ll know about it. Mission objective is torch the facility and-‘

“Gather intel, try not blow up any of Shields nice toys and come back in one piece,’ Tony interrupted, not bothering to look up for his own device, that had a 3D rendering of the facility in question.

Steve looked annoyed to put it lightly, which made Tony roll his eyes and scoff as he looked up.

“Listen wonder boy, I was at the same briefing you were, this is a piece of cake,’ he gestured to the map bored, ‘But if this is what gets you off, continue please.”

Natasha could almost hear the leather in Steve’s gloves as he made a fist at Stark’s teasing.

“Stark,’ she warned in a low tone, tightening the strap on her boot. A team in conflict is dangerous; they barely had 5 missions under their belt and they still seemed to mix as well as oil and water.

“I’m just saying, Captain Perfect can run gallantry through the woods, smashing things with his frisbee, Hulk goes green and messes up the whole eco system of the area, Hawkeye does his blow up arrow things and I’ll take out the electrical grid. Piece of cake.”

“Drop in 3.” Came the pilots voice over the loud speaker, causing Tony to grin and push down his face plate.

“See you on the other side kids.”

__________________________________________________________

  
Natasha ducked as the Hulk swung wide, another one of the enemies harpoon like weapons bouncing off his tough skin. It was having no permanent effect, besides to the one of pissing the green monster off like none other. Natasha pressed the earpiece to signal to the team.

“Guys, let get that harpoon out of play ok?” Advised the red head, watching another spear hurtle through the air and immediately get swiped down by an angry Hulk. The trees around them suffered the most, the dense forest all but leveled by the Hulk’s rage and the repeated gun fire.

“On it,” responded Tony over the comm system, and Natasha watched him blast over to the antique looking apparatus before beginning his aerial assault.

“Targets are going down fast team, lets wrap this up,” came Steve’s commanding voice. Natasha smirked as she turned quickly to the want to be assailant on her left, letting her legs wrap around their neck and stabbing them hard with her taser. Steve had a different tone when he had the suit on; he wasn’t Steve Rogers, but Captain America and even his tone demanded respect if the suit didn’t earn it the first time.

The battle was all but won; so it was in that instant that Widow saw another spear fly as the machine that propelled it went up in flames, along with its operators. She tracked as it wobbled through the air, missing the Hulk entirely.  
  
“Cap look out!” Came Hawkeyes voice crackling over the air waves as Natasha stood in frozen horror as the spear found its home in a spin of red, white and blue.

“Oh my god Steve,” she panted, putting a bullet in the man behind her without pausing to watch him fall as she raced over the forest floor where they fought together only moments before. She doesn’t remember crashing through the underbrush or the bruise from an errant branch that Clint would point out later.

Steve was crumpled on the forest floor, his shield still laying over him as he curled under it panting and biting back screams.

She ran to his side, dropping to her knees on the foliage covered floor, moving the shield away from his prone body. He shrank away, his eyes screwed shut, his good leg kicking as the other one lay impaled through the meaty part of his upper thigh.

“Oh my god,’ Nat whispered, and with shaking hands pressed her fingers to her ear piece, “Stark I need you.”

She heard nothing but static on the other end but the sound of propulsion from the other end of the woods signaled that the iron man had heard her plea.

“Is it,’ panted Steve, still not opening his eyes, his hands gripping around his thigh, “Is my leg still there Nat?”

“Yea Cap, you just have to hold on ok?” She reassured, taking her jacket off and placing it under the groaning man’s head. “Just keep breathing ok?”

“I’m trying,’ Steve whispered, pushing his head into her hand that was brushing his hair back. It was slick with sweat.

The sound of metal whining and landing quickly on the damp forest floor signaled Tony’s arrival and Tasha never thought shed be so happy to see Stark.

“Oh fuck,’ she heard him say though the speakers of the Iron Man helmet.

The face plate flipped back to reveal the concerned face of Tony Stark, a small cut above his eye brow from battle but all together look no worse for wear.

The suit whirred as he knelt down beside their fallen team mate, looking over the wound and at the normally large man cocooned into a ball on the damp earth.

“Hey there, Cap, I’m going to give you something for the pain ok? Evac is still another 15 minutes out alright?” Tony asked, his normally fast passed run on sentences soft and reserved as a small compartment from the side of the suit extended to reveal 3 vials of clear liquid Natasha only assumed could be hero sized pain reducers.

Natasha stayed next to him, her hand carding through his sweat soaked blond hair as he lay panting. She looked at Tony as Steve started shaking his head as the other man drew out the syringe.

“Don’t,’ he panted, a whine lingering in the back of his throat, “I’ll just waste it. Save. It.”

“What do you mean Cap? How is this wasting it?” Tony snapped, gesturing to his leg, “I don’t know if you can tell but you have something a bit larger than a splinter sticking out of your goddamn thigh.”

Steve huffed a grim smile as he opened his eyes to look at Tony, “Doesn’t work. Maybe last,’ he let out a breath curling into Natasha’s hands, “maybe last 10 minutes. Serum.”

Iron Man paused, the syringe still held in his gauntlet.

“Well Cap, that fucking sucks,” he whispered, looking a bit dazed on the fact that he didn’t know that before.

Steve choked out a dry laugh, “Yea, yea it does fucking suck,’ he laid his head back on Natasha’s jacket, “They normally try to wait during surgery to break it out if I cant take it anymore.”

“But 10 minutes huh?” Tony looked at a read out and put the syringe tube in his mouth, and using a laser to reveal a piece of skin on Steve’s tricep. Before Steve could protest, he quickly injected the solution into the muscle and watched with an air of concern as the lines on Steve’s forehead relaxed minutely.

“Should’ve saved it,’ Grumbled Steve unenthusiastically, his eyelids drooping. “Gonna waste.”

Natasha felt her stomach drop; self sacrificing idiot.

She took the mans chin and lifted it up so he could meet her eyes, “You’re never a waste Steve,’ she could’ve sworn she could see his eyes widen at her words, and he nodded so gently she nearly missed it, “Now relax, and wait for that evac.”

  
_____________________________________

  
He could feel it; laying in wait for the pain meds to leave his system as he lay there, prone and curled up, Natasha’s fingers still carding through his hair. It was like a sneeze about to make its appearance, you could feel it but nothing to do until it decided to come forth. That was where his pain was, dull and throbbing around the thick spear that thankfully missed his femur.

Steve never mentioned to the team about his metabolism when it came to medication. He was careful when he was injured, limping back to the tower where Coulson and the team would stitch him up or dig bullets from his abdomen with nothing but a leather belt between his teeth and the prayer for the pain to take him into complete oblivion for a few blessed minutes.

They hadn’t been a team long, he could tell they were wary of him. The golden boy, the super soldier, completely impervious to illness, fatigue and pain. But they didn’t know how he had to sleep for 2 days after staying awake for nearly 5 days in Peru, when their intelligence went to shit and he and Hawkeye were held up in a hostel with no evac in sight. Or after New York, his migraines put him into a two day spiral of mind numbing pain and nearly comatose sleep as his body tried to cope.

They didn’t know that; they didn’t know anything about him besides what they had read in books. It was his fault he supposed; but the last team he had died years ago. Steve didn’t know if he could go through that again.

Rogers body worked like clock work, as soon as ten minutes had past it was if the pain reliever was never there. The creeping throbbing sensation finally returned, taking him his breath and his concentration.

“Shit,” he didn’t mean to say it out loud, he didn’t mean for his body curl tighter in on itself or his breathing to speed up.

“Hold on Rogers, they’re on their way,” Natasha murmured, carefully taking his hand as it hovered dangerously close to the wood pole as he grappled for control of the pain.

Steve just nodded, praying to whatever god was out there that he would black out and finally get some relief.

———————————————————

The words were no sooner out of her mouth then the comforting whir of the twin engines of SHIELD’s evac team had arrived.

Natasha let out of breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, allowing a shaky smile to grace her features; Rogers had a death grip on her hand, he was shaking and sweating but looked up anyway. There was no real look of relief, but a steel hardness to his eyes as the chopper landed and the med team raced to their location.

An electric hydrolic powered medical gurney was brought beside Steve, the field team immediately taking his vitals and piercing his left arm with an IV as they looked into his eyes, a flurry of movement all around him, pushing Nat off to the side.

She almost walked away to allow them the space to do their work, but was halted as Steve’s hand grabbed hers as the gurney was lifted to be taken away,

“Widow,’ he whispered, “Thanks.”

She smiled, squeezing his hand, “It’s Natasha,’ she said, “That’s what my friends call me.”

Natasha barely caught the smile before he was wrenched away, the gurney hovering over the forest floor as it made its way to the waiting plane.

________________________________

The team, minus Rogers, was assembled in the cockpit belly of the large plane, the three hour flight back to base felt endless as they all sat nursing their wounds and writing their statements for the enviable debrief that would follow. Bruce was hunkered down in the corner, blanket over his shoulders and snoring softly with his jacket cradling his head. Tony was on his phone, blank statement tossed on top of the brief case that his Iron Man suit clever folded into, while Barton nursed a black eye while trying to scribble down his account as quickly as possible. She’s fairly certain she saw stick figures at some point on Clint’s paperwork.

Natasha was folded into her chair gracefully; her jeans were muddy and stained were she had knelt in the dirt besides Rogers as he had laid helpless in front of her.

She looked about the cabin and stopped on Tony, who had been looking her, as if watching her study the blood stains on her combat leathers. Just as Stark went to open his mouth a muffled scream barely penetrated the steel walls of the jet.

“What the hell was that?” Came Banner’s muffled voice, tousled hair sticking barely peeking out of the blanket that he was swaddled in.

Natasha shot up, fingers dancing to the gun still strapped to her hip.

“Guys, where did they say they took Rogers again?” Questioned Clint, ice pack falling away from his near swollen eye socket.

Steeling her jaw, Natasha took off down the corridor where the sound came from, her heart racing as she jogged the last few feet to the med bay.

There was a long window that peered into the well lit sterile environment that was the emergency medical lab; in the middle of the room against the wall across from them laid Steve Rogers, laying there as the now two pieces of spear were being put on a cart next to him, blood dripping down the dark wood. His hands were balled at his side, held down by restraints that look like he could break easily if he wanted to.

His chest was heaving and Natasha could have gone a lifetime without seeing the look on the super soldiers face as he laid there, illuminated by fluorescent lighting.

“Agent Romanoff, is there an issue?” Came Coulson’s cool voice; he had been on the chopper the whole time, the calming voice in their ears if things went to shit. But this time his voice did not calm her.

“Yea there’s a fucking problem, what the hell is this?” Tony exclaimed, gesturing to Steve who was now getting stitched up, the hall way barely containing his protests.

“He’s receiving medical treatment Stark, I don’t know what else you want me to say,” Coulson replied, but the lines in his forehead seemed deeper than usual.

“Coulson,’ Romanoff started, tearing herself away from the window, “Is this how it always is with him?”

She didn’t need to explain herself more to him, she knew he understood what she was asking. The restraints, the metabolic curse that was keeping the super soldier from keeping the cool relief of medication they all are used to.

“He didn’t want you to see him like this,’ Their handler explained, “He requested to keep the...downsides of the serum to only the necessary parties.”

When she looked back Steve was looking in their direction, his face pale and in that moment he seemed older than he was, his eyes boring through Natasha’s until he turned his attention the ceiling with a grimace.

“I can fix this,’ She heard Tony mutter, “My stuff worked for a bit. I can make it stronger.”

Nat nodded as Tony took off, already muttering something about metabolisms and drug components.

And so, like her name sake, she waiting. Silently and patiently waiting for the doctors to be done, and Steve to be more settled.

With only thirty minutes until they arrived back at base, she stepped inside the cold room. Rogers was by himself, a constant steady beep of the heart monitor and the IV drip seemed to be his only company as he fiddled with his fingers almost nervously.

“Was wondering when you’d show up,” He said, breaking the heavy silent between them.

“Why didn’t you tell us,” Nat asked, crossing her arms as she looked the man over with a disapproving yet concerned eye. “All this time we could have helped you. Tony could have helped you.”

Steve shrugged, “I dunno Nat,’ he used her name, “I’m the leader you know? The Star Spangled Man with the Plan,” he huffed darkly throwing up his arms slightly. “I didn’t want you guys to see me as a weakness. That I had a weakness.”

“If were going to be a team there has to be a level of trust involved Steve,” she replied, pulling up a chair to sit next to the man so she wasn’t looming over him. He seemed uncomfortable enough as it was.

“Yea,’ he whispered, fiddling with the edge of the white, stiff hospital blanket draped over him. “Yea I know.”

Natasha sighed, and took his hand in hers, “It’s really hard to stay mad at you with those puppy dog eyes you keep flashing Cap,’ she uttered, rubbing a finger over a few swollen knuckles that would be healed before the day was out, “We know you’re Captain America. But I think we need to know Steve Rogers too. Don’t you think?”

Steve still hadn’t met her eye but let her manipulate his hands as she was seemingly try to smooth the hurt by her touch, he didn’t flinch when she traced the red marks left behind by the restraints.

“It’s just,’ he choked softly, “last team I had died about 50 years ago. It’s...difficult. Doing this again. Meeting people. Opening up.”

Natasha nodded, knowing all too well what he was saying without revealing too much in words.

So she drew her hand away, stood up and straightened her jacket, “Hey Steve, I’m Natasha Romanoff. Member of your team.”

The Widow held out her hand to the man, who smiled, shook his head and took it in a firm shake.

“Pleasure to meet you Ms. Romanoff, Steve Rogers.”

Natasha stayed with him for the duration of the flight, trading small talk back and forth that got the man to smile and even laugh.

By the end of the flight, Steve was calling her Nat with regular familiarity. 

And he didn’t let go of her hand.

 

 


End file.
